A spot for me to blog on life in my garden, where I grow things, read things, drink tea and ponder. An important principle for me is living a simple life - to live simply so that others may simply live

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Saturday, March 23, 2019

I'm having a ball, and yet i have no shower, no air conditioning, no phone, and no chocolate! Im visiting with friends and the NGO I've been coming to for 12 years. My friend and I leave our partners at home, and come here to support the local NGO as friends and encouragers.

In the past I volunteered as an english teacher and volunteered to help write policies and grants, but things have changed alot here in India. The school is now well staffed, and some of the teachers speak english very well. Our contribution these days is conversational english, and role modelling. We used to also run a hostel for local girls to stay closer to their high school, so accomodation wasnt a barrier to their continuing education. These days, government funds and runs hostels and our hostel closed down. Roads are better, and soon public transport will be better .. this will also improve the access to higher education for our rural girls.

This week, despite a collection of amazing Hindu and local celebrations like Pongal, weve been in conversations with the team about the next steps in a business model we started last year. Its pretty exciting to be a part of these discussions, and to hear about what the team are holding as their vision.